5 Myths About The Future Of Artificial Intelligence

It's a sad commentary that the public has become so technophobic that we are even taking these sci-fi claims seriously. The view that smart machines will kill us overstates the pace of technological progress, particularly because the processing power of silicon computer chips is slowing down and progress in AI outside of deep learning is relatively modest. Moreover, machines and the human mind are completely different systems, and even major advances in computing are highly unlikely to produce a machine with humanity's intellectual capacity, imagination, or adaptability. As MIT computer scientist Rodney Brooks puts it, "We generalize from performance to competence and grossly overestimate the capabilities of machines -- those of today and of the next few decades." Just as importantly, even if human-level intelligent machines could be built, which is unlikely, they will remain under the control of humans, because we would never build them unless they are largely safe, with the benefits outweighing the costs (just as we do with all technologies in the marketplace).